Chet Baker | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by William Ruhlmann Chet Baker was a primary exponent of the West Coast school of cool jazz in the early and mid-'50s. As a trumpeter, he had a generally restrained, intimate playing style and he attracted attention beyond jazz for his photogenic looks and singing. But his career was marred by drug addiction. Baker 's father, Chesney Henry Baker,Sr., was a guitarist who was forced to turn to other work during the Depression; his mother, Vera (Moser) Baker, worked in a perfumery. The family moved from Oklahoma to Glendale, CA, in 1940. As a child, Baker sang at amateur competitions and in a church choir. Before his adolescence, his father brought home a trombone for him, then replaced it with a trumpet when the larger instrument proved too much for him. He had his first formal training in music in junior high and later at Glendale High School, but would play largely by ear for the rest of his life.

In 1946, when he was only 16 years old, he dropped out of high school and his parents signed papers allowing him to enlist in the army; he was sent to Berlin, Germany, where he played in the 298th Army Band. After his discharge in 1948, he enrolled at El Camino College in Los Angeles, where he studied theory and harmony while playing in jazz clubs, but he quit college in the middle of his second year. He re-enlisted in the army in 1950 and became a member of the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco. But he also began sitting in at clubs in the city and he finally obtained a second discharge to become a professional jazz musician. Baker initially played in Vido Musso 's band, then with Stan Getz .

(The first recording featuring Baker is a performance of "Out of Nowhere" that comes from a tape of a jam session made on March 24, 1952, and was released on the Fresh Sound Records LP Live at the Trade Winds .) His break came quickly, when, in the spring of 1952, he was chosen at an audition to play a series of West Coast dates with Charlie Parker , making his debut with the famed saxophonist at the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles on May 29, 1952. That summer, he began playing in the Gerry Mulligan Quartet , a group featuring only baritone sax, trumpet, bass, and drums -- no piano -- that attracted attention during an engagement at the Haig nightclub and through recordings on the newly formed Pacific Jazz Records (later known as World Pacific Records), beginning with the 10" LP Gerry Mulligan Quartet , which featured Baker 's famous rendition of "My Funny Valentine." The Gerry Mulligan Quartet lasted for less than a year, folding when its leader went to jail on a drug charge in June 1953.

Baker went solo, forming his own quartet, which initially featured Russ Freeman on piano, Red Mitchell on bass, and Bobby White on drums, and making his first recording as leader for Pacific Jazz on July 24, 1953. Baker was hailed by fans and critics and he won a number of polls in the next few years. In 1954, Pacific Jazz released Chet Baker Sings , an album that increased his popularity but alienated traditional jazz fans; he would continue to sing for the rest of his career. Acknowledging his chiseled good looks, nearby Hollywood came calling and he made his acting debut in the film Hell's Horizon, released in the fall of 1955. But he declined an offer of a studio contract and toured Europe from September 1955 to April 1956. When he returned to the U.S., he formed a quintet that featured saxophonist Phil Urso and pianist Bobby Timmons . Contrary to his reputation for relaxed, laid-back playing, Baker turned to more of a bop style with this group, which recorded the album Chet Baker & Crew for Pacific Jazz in July 1956.

Baker toured the U.S. in February 1957 with the Birdland All-Stars and took a group to Europe later that year. He returned to Europe to stay in 1959, settling in Italy, where he acted in the film Urlatori Alla Sbarra. Hollywood, meanwhile, had not entirely given up on him, at least as a source of inspiration, and in 1960, a fictionalized film biography of his life, All the Fine Young Cannibals, appeared with Robert Wagner in the starring role of Chad Bixby. Baker had become addicted to heroin in the 1950s and had been incarcerated briefly on several occasions, but his drug habit only began to interfere with his career significantly in the 1960s. He was arrested in Italy in the summer of 1960 and spent almost a year and a half in jail. He celebrated his release by recording Chet Is Back! for RCA in February 1962.

(It has since been reissued as The Italian Sessions and as Somewhere Over the Rainbow .) Later in the year, he was arrested in West Germany and expelled to Switzerland, then France, later moving to England in August 1962 to appear as himself in the film The Stolen Hours, which was released in 1963. He was deported from England to France because of a drug offense in March 1963. He lived in Paris and performed there and in Spain over the next year, but after being arrested again in West Germany, he was deported back to the U.S. He returned to America after five years in Europe on March 3, 1964, and played primarily in New York and Los Angeles during the mid-'60s, having switched temporarily from trumpet to flügelhorn. In the summer of 1966, he suffered a severe beating in San Francisco that was related to his drug addiction. The incident is usually misdated and frequently exaggerated in accounts of his life, often due to his own unreliable testimony.

It is said, for example, that all his teeth were knocked out, which is not the case, though one tooth was broken and the general deterioration of his teeth led to his being fitted with dentures in the late '60s, forcing him to retrain his embouchure. The beating was not the cause of the decline in his career during this period, but it is emblematic of that decline. By the end of the '60s, he was recording and performing only infrequently and he stopped playing completely in the early '70s. Regaining some control over his life by taking methadone to control his heroin addiction (though he remained an addict), Baker eventually mounted a comeback that culminated in a prominent New York club engagement in November 1973 and a reunion concert with Gerry Mulligan at Carnegie Hall in November 1974 that was recorded and released by Epic Records. By the mid-'70s, Baker was able to return to Europe and he spent the rest of his life performing there primarily, with occasional trips to Japan and periods back in the U.S., though he had no permanent residence.

He attracted the attention of rock musicians, with whom he occasionally performed, for example adding trumpet to Elvis Costello 's recording of his anti-Falklands War song "Shipbuilding" in 1983. In 1987, photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber undertook a documentary film about Baker . The following year, Baker died in a fall from a hotel window in Amsterdam after taking heroin and cocaine. Weber 's film, Let's Get Lost, premiered in September 1988 to critical acclaim and earned an Academy Award nomination. In 1997, Baker 's unfinished autobiography was published under the title As Though I Had Wings: The Lost Memoir and the book was optioned by Miramax for a film adaptation. Baker 's drug addiction caused him to lead a disorganized and peripatetic life, his constant need for cash requiring him to accept many ill-advised recording offers, while his undependability prevented him from making long-term commitments to record labels. As a result, his discography is extensive and wildly uneven.

Chet Baker, Jazz Trumpeter, Dies at 59 in a Fall - NYTimes.com Chet Baker, Jazz Trumpeter, Dies at 59 in a Fall By JON PARELES Published: May 14, 1988 Chet Baker, a jazz trumpet player who was also a whisper-voiced, romantic singer, died Friday after falling from the second-floor window of a hotel in Amsterdam. He was 59 years old. Mr. Baker fell shortly after 3:10 A.M. and was found dead in the street by police, according to a spokesman for the Amsterdam police, who gave no information about what caused the fall. Mr. Baker was known for his gentle, pensive trumpet playing - the epitome of West Coast ''cool jazz'' - and for a difficult life that included battles with drug addiction, jailings and hard luck; in a 1968 beating most of his teeth were knocked out. After he established a reputation in the early 1950's, his career was erratic, a series of disappearances and comebacks. He was booked for a Netherlands tour at the time of his death.

The trumpeter was born Chesney Baker in Yale, Okla., in December 1929, and his family moved to California in 1940. He started playing trumpet as a teen-ager, and after he was drafted in 1946 he joined the 298th Army Band. He started sitting in at San Francisco be-bop jam sessions in 1950, while he was a member of the Presidio Army Band. In 1952, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked with Charlie Parker and then joined the baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan in what became Mr. Mulligan's celebrated pianoless quartet. With a following drawn by his Miles Davis-like style and by his resemblance to James Dean, Mr. Baker won jazz polls in Metronome and Down Beat magazines, and started his own group in 1953. In 1954, after he released an album called ''Chet Baker Sings and Plays,'' he emerged as the No. 4 male vocalist in Down Beat's poll. ''I don't know whether I'm a trumpet player who sings or a singer who plays the trumpet,'' he told an interviewer.

In 1955, he made an eight-month European tour, the longest for an American jazz musician up to that date. But in the late 1950's, heroin addiction began to take its toll on his career. He was arrested repeatedly through the late 1950's and 1960's on narcotics-related charges, both in the United States and in Europe; in the early 1960's he was jailed for 16 months in Italy, and he was deported by Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany. Through most of the 1960's, his recordings were disappointing as his addiction continued. After the 1968 beating, which left him near death, he stopped performing for two years while recovering and turned to methadone. When he began performing again in the 1970's, critics praised his firmer tone and more aggressive solos, and he toured through the 1970's and 1980's.

Along with his own albums for various American and European labels, he sat in on Elvis Costello's album ''Punch the Clock.'' Photo of Chet Baker (Raymond Ross, 1984) Chet Baker - Music on Google Play Chet Baker About the artist Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and vocalist. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals. Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one". His well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety and fame; Baker was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s. Miles Davis 0 Sir Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music. With his ev... 0 Stan Getz 0 Stanley "Stan" Getz was an American jazz saxophonist.

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In a seven-decade career, he has recorded at le... 0 Coleman Hawkins 0 Coleman Randolph Hawkins, nicknamed Hawk and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: ... 0 Ben Webster 0 Benjamin Francis "Ben" Webster was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, is considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkin... 0 Erroll Garner 0 Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard. Scott Yanow of All... 0 Playing Chet Baker Was One of the Toughest Acting Challenges of Ethan Hawke's Career Playing Chet Baker Was One of the Toughest Acting Challenges of Ethan Hawke's Career Matt Miller From Esquire Ethan Hawke needed more time. He was prepping to play legendary jazz musician Chet Baker, and Hawke had to learn an instrument he was completely unfamiliar with.

"I begged the director to give me another year," Hawke said, laughing over the phone in an interview with Esquire. "But my trumpet teacher said, 'Look you're not going to be that much better in a year.'" Even though music had played an important role in his career-with the documentary he directed last year and after his 12 years playing the role of an aspiring musician in Boyhood-Hawke needed to learn the trumpet, fast. He had about four months, and he did his best. He learned the few songs he needed to perform. He focused on breathing. He focused on getting the fingering right. "I'd put a damper in my horn, and I would play along to this beautiful Canadian trumpet player and we would rock it out," Hawke said. The result is a stunning performance in Born to Be Blue, in which Hawke's portrayal of Baker is one of the few accurate aspects of the movie. And it was meant to be that way. The film is more of an anti-biopic, taking liberties with Baker's life and very loosely basing the plot around the musician's actual drug addiction and downfall. In the first scene, Hawke plays Baker playing himself in a biopic.

This, of course, never happened, and is more of an Inception-like plot device that "is kind of a tip to the hat of how fake any biopic is." Ahead of its release on March 25, Esquire spoke with Hawke about the most difficult moments of his acting career, the power of telling a true story that never happened, and jazz. Between your documentary Seymour: An Introduction, and Boyhood, I know music has always been important to you, but what specifically drew you to this project and to Chet Baker? There are a lot of things pulling me toward this job, and one of them, since you mentioned it, was Boyhood. Over the years I was playing this character who was an aspiring musician, and when we finished it, they asked me to record a couple of songs I wrote in the movie. I had this incredibly blessed experience [when] Charlie Sexton-who had a little part in the movie, and who was a guitarist for Bob Dylan- agreed to produce the tracks. I got to go into the studio with Charlie Sexton and record for a couple of days.

It was shortly after that that I got the script, and it was one of those things that gave me the confidence that I could do this. And I think without that experience I would have been more terrified of a recording studio than I already was. Years ago, Richard Linklater and I had developed a project about Chet Baker, and I had researched it a lot and was disappointed that I never got to do it. It felt like something left undone. For you, how does it feel to be singing and playing trumpet as opposed to being on stage acting or in front of a camera? There are three hardest moments I've ever had as an actor: One was saying "to be or not to be" in front of a camera, another was being on stage and saying "is this a dagger which I see before me," and the other is singing "My Funny Valentine." Whenever you touch these iconic phrases, these words that great artists have tackled before you, and you have the audacity or presumption that you might have something to offer them, it's incredibly daunting. I really love Chet Baker, but I didn't really love his voice. I found his vocal performance really moving, and it communicates beautifully.

But I thought that he transmits something that is actable. Then the funny thing is, when I got deeper and deeper into trying to work on him, I realized how much artistry goes into something that simple. Chet always made it look so simple-it's like a memory of someone singing. It's instantly nostalgic the moment it comes out of his mouth. I think what's an interesting dynamic in the movie is that you're learning to play, and he's re-training himself to play. It let me play into some of the same fears of being bad. I could sit there and try to crank out "Summertime" in the same way that Chet was trying to crank it out after [getting] his dentures. What other research did you put into the role? Were you trying to be as accurate as possible, even though the film fictionalizes his life? I wanted to tip my hat to the iconography of it so you could believe it. But I was more interested in making it personal. One of the things I really liked about the script-for those who are very knowledgeable of the Chet Baker lore or his family-the film opens with Chet Baker acting in a movie where he's playing himself, which is something that never happened.

What I love about that is I'm playing Chet playing himself and he talks about how fake this is, and it's kind of a tip to the hat of how fake any biopic is. If what you're interested in here is a documentary, there's other things you can go see. What we're trying to do is tell a story about people that you can hopefully relate to. I tried to veer away from imitation. I wanted to explore the myth and legend of him and make it personal. Read More What do you think the audience has to gain from a biopic that isn't strictly literal? It's not about whether the guy's named Chet Baker or Stan Getz or Art Pepper, it's about people, and falling in love, and musicians, and what is our relationship to ourselves. What is leading us our friends, our relationships? Is what we care about most our art and our creativity? If you want to know the facts, you can click on Wikipedia and get most of it. Speaking of art and creativity, what I think is most haunting in this film is the notion of an artist being stripped of his art. I agree with you completely, and that's what I think is so frightening.

For me, I've had these times in my life while doing a play and you're sick and you're losing your voice and your body is out of your control. These talents that people have-they come from somewhere else. It's a gift. And you can either treat this gift with respect, or you can destroy it. You're right, Chet did destroy it. And you know, what I thought was really interesting about your portrayal is that there's no hero worship. That was kind of my hope: to come at it like a humanist. We love to make beauties out of people, or we love to turn them into demons. I always just try to see them as a person, to be sometimes funny, sometimes really stupid, sometimes really smart like the rest of us. Reblog Artist : Chet Baker - Festival International de Jazz de Montréal SHARE: The leading man of the "cool jazz" movement, trumpeter Chet Baker's smoldering vocals and intimate playing style endeared him to jazz enthusiasts the world over.

A fixture on the West Coast jazz scene during the 1950s and '60s, Baker also maintained a presence in Europe, where he was based after the mid-1970s and released several rare recordings. But behind the scenes of a successful - if, at times, sporadic - career was a lifelong drug addiction, revealing a musician who was as vulnerable as he was slick. Calm before the storm Born in Yale, Oklahoma, Chet Baker picked up the trombone after his father, a musician, gave it to him as a gift. But when the large instrument proved too hard for him to handle, it was replaced with a trumpet. As a child, Baker also sang in the church choir and at amateur competitions. After a two year stint in the 298th Army Band in Berlin, where he was stationed, he moved to Los Angeles in 1948 to study music at El Camino College. While on the West Coast, he explored the emerging jazz scene in San Francisco, frequenting popular clubs such as Bop City and Black Hawk.

The young trumpeter started to perform with saxophonist Stan Getz before being asked by Charlie Parker to appear in a series of shows in 1952. That same year, Baker joined the popular Gerry Mulligan Quartet. His memorable solo on the group's hit cover of My Funny Valentine remains one of the songs most strongly associated with the artist. Following the quartet's disbandment in 1953, Baker recorded his first solo vocal album, Chet Baker Sings. At that point, jazz enthusiasts weren't the only fans of the emerging musician. His chiseled features and rakish charm garnered attention in Hollywood, and Baker was soon recruited to appear on film. In 1955, he made his acting debut in Hell's Horizon, but turned down a studio contract, preferring the freedom of the open road. He toured Europe that summer and into the following year, at which time he released The Route with saxophonist Art Pepper, furthering the cool jazz sound. Troubled waters Although he was using heroin in the 1950s, Baker's habit didn't significantly interfere with his career until the following decade.

In 1960, he was arrested in Italy, where he stayed in jail for a year and a half. The album Chet Is Back! marked his release, but Baker was soon charged with a string of drug offences and deported from England to France, and then Germany to the United States, over the next three years. Upon returning home, the trumpeter started playing flügelhorn. During a gig in San Francisco in, Baker suffered a severe beating and broke a tooth. By the late 1960s, his substance abuse had deteriorated most of his teeth, forcing him to wear dentures and relearn his embouchure. The musician performed sporadically until 1974, when he reunited with Gerry Mulligan in a high-profile concert at Carnegie Hall, which was released as a live album. Baker permanently relocated to Europe soon after. In 1983, he was invited by Elvis Costello to play a solo on the song Shipbuilding, which became a Top 40 hit in the U.K. The artist returned to North America in 1986 for a visit to the Festival, where he joined pianist Paul Bley for the first time since 1955.

However, the reunion was short-lived. Bley gently escorted Baker off stage when it was clear the trumpeter was unfit (and unwilling) to play. Nevertheless, he continued to play. While touring Japan in 1987, the jazz man recorded the live album Chet Baker in Tokyo, which is considered by some critics to be among his best work. The following year, Baker fell to his death from a hotel window in Amsterdam after taking heroin and cocaine. Sadly, the last decade of his life was marked by a newfound maturity and creative development. Even after his death, the troubled artist with movie star good looks and a mysterious aura continues to captivate audiences. He was the subject of the 1988 documentary Let's Get Lost and his unfinished autobiography, As Though I Had Wings: The Lost Memoir, was optioned for film adaptation after being published posthumously in 1997. 1986 Playing Chet Baker Was One of the Toughest Acting Challenges of Ethan Hawke's Career Playing Chet Baker Was One of the Toughest Acting Challenges of Ethan Hawke's Career The actor explains his new anti-biopic Born to Be Blue.

Most Popular By Matt Miller Mar 24, 2016 Ethan Hawke needed more time. He was prepping to play legendary jazz musician Chet Baker, and Hawke had to learn an instrument he was completely unfamiliar with. "I begged the director to give me another year," Hawke said, laughing over the phone in an interview with Esquire. "But my trumpet teacher said, 'Look you're not going to be that much better in a year.'" Even though music had played an important role in his career—with the documentary he directed last year and after his 12 years playing the role of an aspiring musician in Boyhood—Hawke needed to learn the trumpet, fast. He had about four months, and he did his best. He learned the few songs he needed to perform. He focused on breathing. He focused on getting the fingering right. "I'd put a damper in my horn, and I would play along to this beautiful Canadian trumpet player and we would rock it out," Hawke said. The result is a stunning performance in Born to Be Blue, in which Hawke's portrayal of Baker is one of the few accurate aspects of the movie. And it was meant to be that way.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below The film is more of an anti-biopic, taking liberties with Baker's life and very loosely basing the plot around the musician's actual drug addiction and downfall. In the first scene, Hawke plays Baker playing himself in a biopic. This, of course, never happened, and is more of an Inception-like plot device that "is kind of a tip to the hat of how fake any biopic is." Ahead of its release on March 25, Esquire spoke with Hawke about the most difficult moments of his acting career, the power of telling a true story that never happened, and jazz. Most Popular Between your documentary Seymour: An Introduction, and Boyhood, I know music has always been important to you, but what specifically drew you to this project and to Chet Baker? There are a lot of things pulling me toward this job, and one of them, since you mentioned it, was Boyhood. Over the years I was playing this character who was an aspiring musician, and when we finished it, they asked me to record a couple of songs I wrote in the movie.

I had this incredibly blessed experience [when] Charlie Sexton—who had a little part in the movie, and who was a guitarist for Bob Dylan— agreed to produce the tracks. I got to go into the studio with Charlie Sexton and record for a couple of days. It was shortly after that that I got the script, and it was one of those things that gave me the confidence that I could do this. And I think without that experience I would have been more terrified of a recording studio than I already was. Years ago, Richard Linklater and I had developed a project about Chet Baker, and I had researched it a lot and was disappointed that I never got to do it. It felt like something left undone. For you, how does it feel to be singing and playing trumpet as opposed to being on stage acting or in front of a camera?

There are three hardest moments I've ever had as an actor: One was saying "to be or not to be" in front of a camera, another was being on stage and saying "is this a dagger which I see before me," and the other is singing "My Funny Valentine." Whenever you touch these iconic phrases, these words that great artists have tackled before you, and you have the audacity or presumption that you might have something to offer them, it's incredibly daunting. I really love Chet Baker, but I didn't really love his voice. I found his vocal performance really moving, and it communicates beautifully. But I thought that he transmits something that is actable. Then the funny thing is, when I got deeper and deeper into trying to work on him, I realized how much artistry goes into something that simple. Chet always made it look so simple—it's like a memory of someone singing. It's instantly nostalgic the moment it comes out of his mouth. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below I think what's an interesting dynamic in the movie is that you're learning to play, and he's re-training himself to play. It let me play into some of the same fears of being bad.

I could sit there and try to crank out "Summertime" in the same way that Chet was trying to crank it out after [getting] his dentures. What other research did you put into the role? Were you trying to be as accurate as possible, even though the film fictionalizes his life? I wanted to tip my hat to the iconography of it so you could believe it. But I was more interested in making it personal. One of the things I really liked about the script—for those who are very knowledgeable of the Chet Baker lore or his family—the film opens with Chet Baker acting in a movie where he's playing himself, which is something that never happened. What I love about that is I'm playing Chet playing himself and he talks about how fake this is, and it's kind of a tip to the hat of how fake any biopic is. If what you're interested in here is a documentary, there's other things you can go see. What we're trying to do is tell a story about people that you can hopefully relate to. I tried to veer away from imitation. I wanted to explore the myth and legend of him and make it personal.

What do you think the audience has to gain from a biopic that isn't strictly literal? It's not about whether the guy's named Chet Baker or Stan Getz or Art Pepper, it's about people, and falling in love, and musicians, and what is our relationship to ourselves. What is leading us our friends, our relationships? Is what we care about most our art and our creativity? If you want to know the facts, you can click on Wikipedia and get most of it. Speaking of art and creativity, what I think is most haunting in this film is the notion of an artist being stripped of his art. I agree with you completely, and that's what I think is so frightening. For me, I've had these times in my life while doing a play and you're sick and you're losing your voice and your body is out of your control. These talents that people have—they come from somewhere else. It's a gift. And you can either treat this gift with respect, or you can destroy it. You're right, Chet did destroy it. And you know, what I thought was really interesting about your portrayal is that there's no hero worship.

That was kind of my hope: to come at it like a humanist. We love to make beauties out of people, or we love to turn them into demons. I always just try to see them as a person, to be sometimes funny, sometimes really stupid, sometimes really smart like the rest of us. More from Esquire: Chet Baker @ All About Jazz Read more Chesney Henry Chet Baker Jr. was raised in a musical household in Oklahoma (his father was a guitar player), and coming of age in Southern California during the bebop era of jazz, Baker found success as a trumpet player in 1951 when he was chosen by Charlie Parker to play with him for a series of West Coast engagements. In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Baker became famous on the strength of his solo on their recording of My Funny Valentine a piece he was later said to own. The Quartet, however, lasted less than a year because of Mulligan's arrest on drug charges. In 1954, Baker won the Downbeat Jazz Poll, beating Miles Davis among others.

Over the next few years, Baker fronted his own combo, playing trumpet and singing. He became an icon of the west coast cool school of jazz, helped by his good looks and singing talent. By the early 1960s, Baker had begun playing the fluegelhorn, as well. Then, drug addiction caught up with Baker, and his promising musical career declined as a result. Heroin addiction created a myriad of legal problems for him as well; he served more than a year in prison in Italy, and was later expelled from both West Germany and England for drug-related offenses. Baker was eventually deported from West Germany to the United States after running afoul of the law there a second time. He settled in Milpitas in northern California where he was active in San Jose and San Francisco between short jail terms served for writing his own prescriptions. In 1966, Baker allegedly was severely beaten while attempting to buy drugs after a gig in San Francisco, sustaining severe cuts on the lips and broken front teeth, thus ruining his embouchure. Accounts of the incident vary, largely because of his lack of reliable testimony on the matter.

From that time he had to learn to play with dentures, a difficult process for a brass player. Between 1966 and 1974, Baker mostly played flugelhorn, with its wider mouthpiece, and recorded what must be considered slick mood music. He eventually moved to New York City and began recording again in earnest with other well known jazz musicians such as Jim Hall. Later in the seventies, Baker returned to Europe where he was assisted by his friend Diane Vavra who took care of his personal needs and otherwise helped him during his recording and performance dates. Baker recorded extensively throughout his career. As a result, his discography is considered widely uneven. However, some of Baker's European recordings, made near the end of his career, reveal a more mature and, at times, brilliant talent with simplicity and depth beyond his previous work. Near the end of Baker's life, he resided and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the USA about once a year for a few performance dates. On May 13, 1988, he fell (or was pushed) from his second story hotel window in Amsterdam and died.

There was speculation that he was under the influence of drugs at the time, however his autopsy revealed that he was sober. There were also rumors that a suicide note was found but is held in private hands. A plaquette outside the Prins Hendrik Hotel memorializes him. Baker's body was brought home for interment in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. Jeroen de Valk wrote a biography of Chet Baker, Chet Baker: His Life and Music. The iconic side of Chet Baker was captured by the photographer William Claxton in his book Young Chet: The Young Chet Baker. A documentary film about his career, Let's Get Lost, also portrayed Chet as a cultural icon of the 1950s, but juxtaposed this with his later image as a drug abuser. The film, released in 1988 and directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, was shot in black-and-white, and includes a series of interviews with friends, family, associates and lovers, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life, and with interviews with Baker from his last years.

In 2005 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and the Oklahoma House of Representatives proclaimed July 2, 2005 as Chet Baker Day. Chet Baker - Chet - Amazon.com Music Chet Baker Next Special Offers and Product Promotions Stream Chet [Keepnews Collection] by Chet Baker and tens of millions of other songs on all your devices with Amazon Music Unlimited . Exclusive discount for Prime members. Sample this album Artist (Sample) 1 Audio CD (July 1, 1991) Number of Discs: 1 5.0 out of 5 stars Fallen Angel - Chet By Dino Fantegrossi on May 27, 2001 I own 20 Chet Baker CDs, and I play them virtually every day. As a "50 something" jazz fan with over 250 jazz CDs I can honestly say that the only time my wife will join me in the music room is when I have a Chet Baker Cd playing. I think that this is significant...Chet Baker's appeal seems to cross over more lines than that of any other jazz performer.

I used to think that it was the VOICE that grabbed my wife's attention, but her favorite Chet Baker album is this one..."CHET". This album has no singing. It does have 9 extended cuts of standards played perfectly by Chet Baker and a sextet of brilliantly accomplished musicians. Some of the personnel matchups are (for me) like a dream come true: Chet Baker and Bill Evans; Chet Baker and the great Kenny Burrell; Chet and Herbie Mann. I think the keys to this albums great success are easy to define: 1. A lucid and motivated Chet Baker on trumpet 2. A tremendous group of "name" musicians 3. A great grouping of excellent jazz standards. 4. An adequate amount of playing time to develop and explore each piece completely. I do admit that I love ballads and never find an album completely composed of "mood" songs or "slow" songs boring. This is an album totally devoted to the ballad, so if you are looking for bop or up tempo stuff I suggest that you look elsewhere. But if you know Mr.

Baker's lyrical approach to jazz or if you appreciate the almost zen like quality of Miles Davis'"Kind of Blue" album, then I am sure you will appreciate "Chet". I think that this CD is timeless and of the highest quality available. There are times on this album (You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" is one) when Chet Baker is off in a world of beauty of his own. The rest of the band tries to play with him, but Chet has moved to another plane leaving the listener to sit in almost stunned amazement, and plan the next Chet Baker Cd purchase. I hope that you will try this CD. I am very sure that you will find it to be one of the permanent jazz classics if you do. Cheers! By Jack Dempsey on May 11, 2000 Format: Audio CD Such a beautiful, beautiful recording from a life fraught with tragedy. I guess I pretty much sum it up with the caption above. This is my favorite Chet Baker recording ever. I own approximately 12 other Chet cd's, yet this is the one I play over and over and over. This is Chet at his best.

A, fairly, young Chet, still in his prime. It's very smooth, soft, and laid back. Pefect Chet. No singing Chet here though. In order to hear the naivete at it's best, you'll just have to pick up "Chet sings." In short, I love this recording. It's one of the best out there. And lastly, Chet's version of "September Song" is one of the best you will EVER hear. By richard monk on March 3, 2000 Format: Audio CD Of the dozenn or so Chet Baker recordings I own, "Chet" is my favorite. You will have to look elsewhere for Mr. Baker's vocal stylings, but for an overview of his unique technique on the trumpet, look no further. These are the songs Mr. Baker plays best: romantic ballads, and slow tempo standards. His cool, laid back, restricted octave interpretations of "You and the Night and the Music" and "It never entered my Mind" are definitive "Cool Jazz" recordings of these standards. The back up musicians, noteably Bill Evans on Piano, provide the perfect backdrop to Mr.

Baker's one-of-a-kind trumpet playing. You can feel the melancholy emotion in Baker's playing in "September Song". Baker's trumpet playing from approximatly this time forward loses some of its unique tone and timbre for me. Just as his voice lost some of its "pureness" as Mr. Baker aged, so does his trumpet playing lose some of its wonderful softness and lack of any edginess in later recordings. Perhaps that is related to his losing all his teeth and relearning to play the trumpet from scratch. In any event, I like the sound of Mr. Baker's trupet playing the best on "Chet". In sum, exquisite trumpet playing, great backup players, shrewd choice of material, and state of the art recording (for the time), yields the definitive Chet Baker CD for me. If I had to throw away or sell all my Chet Baker CDs and keep one, "Chet" would be the one I kept. It also is in the top ten jazz CD's I would want to have on a desert island (along with a sound system), out of about 175 discs I own.

Question: What instrument did jazz musician, Chet Baker play?
Answer: TRUMPET